Today is Hari Raya Aidilfitri (Eid al-Fitr), and most of our brethren in the country are celebrating.
Aside from being a public holiday, Hari Raya is about seeking forgiveness from family and friends.
These beautiful values of familial love, friendship, forgiveness and compassion are reflected very much from the films of the late filmmaker Yasmin Ahmad.
Last week, for a documentary that Ming Jin's directing (I'm executive producing), we had the pleasure of interviewing Yasmin's parents, Pak Atan and Mak Inom, and sister, Orked. (yup, she's the namesake of the protagonist in the "Orked trilogy")
A few days ago, James Lee shared a link to LAST DAY OF SCHOOL, a short film he did for Singapore's NTUC Income OrangeAid. Along with his 2013 short FAMILY PORTRAIT 全家福, this is possibly his most heartwarming (and most unabashedly tearjerking) work ever.
Starring newcomer Evon Chua and James Lee regular Mike Chuah, this short film tells the story of Siew Fang, who is finishing high school and has big dreams, but she also has bigger responsibilities towards her family.
Having gotten nearly 70 000 views to date (60 000 from yesterday itself!), his short has became viral.
Watch this if you haven't.
Recently, I have been seeing a lot of touching father-daughter short films and commercials online. Despite not being a dad myself, most of these works have left me a little misty-eyed.
Therefore I'm going to share a few that I've stumbled upon in the last few weeks.
The first one's been pretty ubiquitous, not only had it dominate my Facebook newsfeed, it's been airing on TV as well. LOVING EYES, a Japanese Toyota advertisement (for its Safety Sense feature) which came out last month, shows the numerous car journeys taken by together by a father and his daughter, from the time she was a baby to when she had a baby of her own. The ingenuity of this ad is that it was done in first-person perspective, first seeing the events from the father's POV, and then from the daughter's POV. It really gives you the feels.
Another Japanese ad from last year, which I only got to watch for the very first time last week, is from Tosando Music School. During a wedding, the emcee announces that the father of the bride has a message for her. He steps over to the piano, she's confused because he doesn't know how to play the piano! She's fearful that her dad's going to embarrass her in front of public, until we start hearing the first few notes of Canon in D, and a shared memory begins unveiling itself.
Yesterday, during a meeting, I was shown this charming Metlife Hong Kong ad called MY DAD'S STORY: DREAM FOR MY CHILD (Cantonese version is here). I don't want to spoil this. It's framed by a little girl's essay on her dad. Although it's for Metlife Hong Kong, I believe this ad was shot in Thailand with Thai actors, since I recognized the little girl from last year's MY BEAUTIFUL WOMAN Wacoal ad, now, THAT was a great mother-daughter ad!)
There are way more of these touching father-daughter ads out there, but these are the great ones that I had the pleasure to watch recently.
The Very Bad Film School is a one weekend film challenge started earlier this year by Tan Chui Mui with the strong belief that the only way to learn how to make films is... by making films. (which I don't disagree)
There are different challenges in each session initiated by different filmmakers, and usually ends with participants making a short film in a day. These sessions include David Lynch film marathons, listening to experimental music from the past decade, lectures etc.
Last weekend was James Lee's challenge, and it's a series of challenges that truly mirror his own philosophy as a filmmaker!
Last Monday, for the documentary that I am currently working on, I had the honour of interviewing Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah at her office. She had been a role model for Malaysian women (and men) for more than six decades, and played an important role on developing the modern sports of the country. She is also the wife of former Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir.
The husband of a friend passed away early in the morning. I have never met him before. yet I cannot shake away the feeling of melancholy. Their child is very young. So was he.
At night, I received news of screen legend Sir Christopher Lee's passing. He was 93. He had spent more than half a century giving us iconic roles like Count Dracula, and Saruman.
A few weeks earlier, a friend dear to my heart lost her older sister too. When I was with her in Singapore, I struggled to find words to tell her. She looked strong, we laughed through the day, but I wished that was enough to help her momentarily forget her pain.
Recent events are constantly reminding me about the impermanence of life. I do not know what to do, except to just live the moment, I guess.
Just now I had the pleasure of reading a nice article on The New Statesman featuring two literary giants, Neil Gaiman and Kazuo Ishiguro, talking about the complications of genres, politics of storytelling, and the like.
